WD unfurls 1TB Scorpio

Tiny titan packs mighty sting

By Chris Mellor • Get more from this author

Posted in Storage, 27th July 2009 11:34 GMT

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Leapfrogging Seagate again, Western Digital has announced the world's first 1TB 2.5-inch drive, a 3-platter Scorpio Blue.

The company says it has the industry's highest areal density for such drives, 333GB/platter. Two drives are available with these platters: a 750GB one, available now from certain distributors and resellers, and the 1TB one, available from the channel as well as being configured into WD's My Passport Essential SE USB external drive product.

It is priced at €205, with the 750GB drive priced at €140. Both use the 3Gbit/s SATA interface and have various WD technologies to run quietly, park their heads when not in use and withstand shocks. Both also have a 12.5mm depth measurement, which means they can't be retrofitted to notebooks with a 9.5mm deep 2.5-inch drive bay.

The Scorpio Blue range previously maxed out at 500GB capacity.

The best Seagate can do is a 640GB Free Agent Go, which has a better warranty period: 5 years versus WD's 3 years. ®

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